A Gurgaon-based startup working in utilizing satellite data to solve environmental problems has won an international prize for its AI (artificial intelligence)- based tool to measure and monitor farm fires and stubble burning across India.

Millions of tonnes of crop residue is burnt on farms to clear them for new crops every winter in North India, releasing massive amounts of greenhouse gas emissions which cause peak in pollution levels in Delhi and elsewhere. Stubble burning is also a major problem in other parts of the country. Efforts to utilize crop waste for power generation and other applications are hampered due to lack of data about availability and quality the waste.

The application developed by Gurgaon-based startup, Blue Sky Analytics, is an AI-enabled platform that uses satellite data for improved monitoring, supply chain and pricing analysis as well as allocation of crop waste for use in other industries as raw material.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, HCL Corporation CEO and Executive Director Roshni Nadar Malhotra and Biocon Founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw have been named among the world's 100 most powerful women by Forbes.

The Forbes 2019 list of ‘The World's 100 Most Powerful Women’ has been topped by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, followed by President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde in the second spot and Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, ranked third. Also on the list is Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (29).

“In 2019, women around the globe took action, claiming leadership positions in government, business, philanthropy and media. These trailblazers are not to be messed with," Forbes said.

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has begun preparatory works for setting up a third rocket launchpad in the small coastal hamlet of Kulashekhrapattinam in the Thuthukudi district of Tamil Nadu. 

The District Administration has appointed a Special Tehsildar along with eight more Tahsildars to speed up the process of land acquisition for the centre.

At present, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has two launch pads at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The demand for additional launch pads has arisen as a result of the increase in the number of satellite launches from India, both for domestic and international customers. ISRO says that it had launched as many as 17 missions in 2018 alone.

Odisha Government has bagged the prestigious Best State Promoting Sports Award at the FICCI India Sports Awards 2019 held at New Delhi on Wednesday.

Sports Minister Tusharkanti Behera and Secretary Vishal Kumar Dev received the award on behalf of the Government at a function where sporting icons were honoured for their achievements.

The award was given to Odisha in recognition for its superlative achievement and contributions to promotion of sports.

In last one year, Odisha has made significant strides in sports by hosting some of the prestigious international sporting events, including the Hockey Olympic Qualifiers and Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship.

Food and beverage giant PepsiCo has roped in Bollywood actor Salman Khan as the new face of its flagship Pepsi brand of carbonated beverage in India. To note, the actor has been the face of rival Coca-Cola’s popular ThumsUp brand for years and was recently seen promoting Parle Agro-backed soft drink Appy Fizz.

“We are excited to announce Pepsi’s collaboration with Bollywood superstar Salman Khan. Over the last year, Swag has been the underlying message throughout Brand Pepsi’s campaigns, celebrating the innate self-belief of the Indian consumer today. In 2020, we look forward to building the brand’s Har Ghoont Mein Swag proposition with Salman in 2020,” said a PepsiCo India spokesperson.

Khan had previously endorsed PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew drink. Now, he will be a crucial cog in its flagship brand’s campaigns against Ranbir Kapoor-endorsed Coca Cola.  

Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju today announced a cash reward of 1.5 lakh rupees each for the 174 gold medallists of the South Asian Games held in Nepal.

The South Asian Games concluded yesterday with India topping the table for the historic 13th time in a row, winning 312 medals including 174 gold, 93 silver and 45 bronze medals. The silver winners will receive one lakh rupees and bronze winners  50,000 rupees each.


Speaking at a felicitation ceremony for the medallists, Mr Rijiju said going forward, the government will have a structured cash reward policy for medallists in South Asian Games, like other multi-sporting events like the Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.

George Laurer, the US engineer who helped develop the barcode, has died at the age of 94.

Barcodes, which are made up of black stripes of varying thickness and a 12-digit number, help identify products and transformed the world of retail.

They are now found on products all over the world.

The idea was pioneered by a fellow IBM employee, but it was not until Laurer developed a scanner that could read codes digitally that it took off.

Laurer died last Thursday at his home in Wendell, North Carolina, and his funeral was held on Monday.

The ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) will launch today its earth observation satellite, RISAT-2BR1 on PSLV-C48 from the First Launch Pad (FLP) of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

The countdown for the launch began at 4.40 PM yesterday. ISRO said Launch is scheduled at 3.25 PM today, subject to weather conditions. RISAT-2BR1, a Radar imaging earth observation satellite weighing about 628 kg, will be placed into an orbit of 576 km at an inclination of 37 degrees.

PSLV-C48, which is the 50th mission of PSLV, will also carry 9 customer satellites of Israel, Italy, Japan and USA as co-passengers. These international customer satellites are being launched under a commercial arrangement with NewSpace India Limited.

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has received the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to achieve international peace and co-operation.

After receiving the prestigious award in a formal ceremony at Oslo's City Hall today, Mr Ahmed said, he accepted this award on behalf of Ethiopians and Eritreans, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of peace.

This year's Nobel Peace Prize was the 100th to be awarded. The Nobel Peace Prize consists of a diploma, a gold medal and a cheque for nine million Swedish kronor (850,000 euros).

The Nobel Committee announced in October it was honouring Abiy Ahmed for his efforts to resolve the long-running conflict with neighbouring foe Eritrea.

To expedite the trial of cases relating to women and children, 45 new fast track courts will be set up in Odisha. State Law Minister Pratap Jena said 21 courts would be dedicated for cases of rape and sexual harassment of women.

The remaining 24 fast track courts will specifically deal with Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) cases. The State government's action comes after Centre's decision to formulate a scheme for setting up 1,023 fast track special courts for expeditious trial and disposal of rape cases.